Gloucester part company with Nigel Davies.

Not really a surprise.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/27372902

http://www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk/news/9986.php

That is a surprise, were gloucester really that bad under him?

Think its harsh considering they went into the season knowing their front row wasn't up to scratch and they've made some big signings there next season, played some good rugby at times and with a stronger scrum could have been an exciting team next season.

Only 2 years in charge one of which has to be seen as a success seems harsh to me too especially when he has players coming in who could potentially improve weak areas for next season. Glaws management are effectively admitting they have made 2 errors of judgement in a row with their appointments and for me this says more about their shortcomings than Davies'.

Scarlets should take him back before Bristol nab him.

I have to say I am really disappointed by this. This season has been dire and you cannot defend that, however, ND was limited as to the changes he could make this year. With 20+ players out of contract this season this summer was always going to be the opportunity to re-shape the back centric squad, which he has duly done with the signings of Hibbard, Afoa, Galarza and hopefully Rowan.

Added to that the forwards have drastically underperformed and ND should only shoulder some of that blame. Likewise, we had the top point scorer in 12/13 and for that player to then have only just over 50% kick ratio speaks volumes as to our attempt to build any momentum. In fairness to Burns his performances have improved recently, but the damage had already been done.

ND has done an awful lot of work to embed a proper rugby culture within the club again. He has created strong links with numerous lower tier clubs, which will no doubt serve Glaws well in the future.

I don't not like the football mentality of hiring and firing and for me this decision smacks of short termism and I fear it will put off potential new DoRs. There should be a number of players feeling pretty guilty right now.

I agree with you HKC I don't like seeing coaches DoR etc getting the boot for the players failings on the pitch, at the end of the day he deserved another year at the very least to see how his new signings performed.

It's not often we agree Scrumpy

It just seems strange to me to back him with such notable signings to address issues he inherited, then jettison him before he can put these changes into place. So far our board haven't come out to take ownership of their faults.

Just not sure where they are going to find someone better. Glaws are hardly an enticing prospect with a squad half rebuilt to someone else's specification and management who are somewhat trigger happy should you have a bad season.

I'd have given him one more season with his new squad first.

Maybe they'll go to uncontested coaching.   

formerly known as Sam wrote:Just not sure where they are going to find someone better. Glaws are hardly an enticing prospect with a squad half rebuilt to someone else's specification and management who are somewhat trigger happy should you have a bad season.

I'd have given him one more season with his new squad first.

The late owner of the New York Giants, Wellington Mara, once said the initial step in the process to fire an existing coach is to make sure you can find a better replacement.  The second step is to know exactly why the coach was failing.

Really thought that they would have tapped up Gold, he would have been a great signing with that forward power on the way, but no he is wasted in Japan

doctor_grey wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:Just not sure where they are going to find someone better. Glaws are hardly an enticing prospect with a squad half rebuilt to someone else's specification and management who are somewhat trigger happy should you have a bad season.

I'd have given him one more season with his new squad first.

The late owner of the New York Giants, Wellington Mara, once said the initial step in the process to fire an existing coach is to make sure you can find a better replacement.  The second step is to know exactly why the coach was failing.

I'm not convinced they know the 2nd step.

I'll be interested to see if they've got the first step right. Not that many top coaches kicking about.

And the first sign of madness is to keep doing what hasn't worked before, like firing your coaches on a regular basis.

The top four teams have had the same coach for how long? None are without their faults but consistency and the ability to build a squad ethos is important.

formerly known as Sam wrote:The top four teams have had the same coach for how long? None are without their faults but consistency and the ability to build a squad ethos is important.

We all know Cockerill's and Mallinders failings, but i'd be curious to hear what you thought CoS and Mccall's were Sam? Not a dig just interested to know.

Not sure if its a failing as such but over the last few years Quins (to an outsider) have seemed very reliant on Evans. I guess maybe a few players somewhere inbetween the talented academy and international star could have been useful? I really rate cos though, so that's scraping the barrel a bit...

COS's faults? Yes, he hasn't found the backup for Evans yet, but when you have a player who can justly claim to be one of the top 2 or 3 in his position globally that's a trickier thing to do than we impatient Quins fans seem to think.

The philosophy of building from within may or may not pay off (I think it will) but until the squad is properly mature (say 2015-6) we'll not know and we will occasionally have to try to win things with kids.

I also think he's still learning how to manage a squad on multiple fronts over multiple seasons. But I also think he'll get there.

Big question is whether Quins can find a way to outplay Sarries' or Saints' power game with the squad we have. There's a slight concern that we haven't moved on enough.

But I have faith.

It was more of a generalisation as none are perfect. COS could be accused of failing to build on Quins success and recruit the two or three international quality players they need to compete in both Europe and domestically. He has laid a lot of faith at the door of the academy. You could also argue that his succession planning policy has been a touch wayward with Quins far to reliant on the aging Kohn and as soon as he retired the Quins pack lost a good deal of strength. Similar could happen with Evans unless Botica is developed more next season.

McCall seems very reliant on his coaching team. I'm not exactly sure what it is he does. Most notable was the dramatic change in the way the team played when Farrell was replaced as coach, if that's the way McCall wanted to play then he had the same players working with him the season before. He also makes the occasional tactical blunder see Tolouse this season, Clermont and Tigers last season.

Sam,
Are you making a comment about England or Saracens?  The change is Saracens from previous seasons to this one is dramatic (exactly as you say).

Saracens. Since Sorrel has come in their back line is barely recognisable.

Apparently Nick Mallett is at the top of our list of replacements. I'll believe that when I see it!!

Stranger things have happened, HKC.
Vern Cotter agreed to bugger up his reputation with Scotland.

No way Mallett is going in the same list (think its the chronic in glous) they had Richards down as well. Mallett will always have one eye on an international job anywhere and don't think it would fit Glous view.

My money is on Mark Anscombe if he hasn't been confirmed to go anywhere.

formerly known as Sam wrote:It was more of a generalisation as none are perfect. COS could be accused of failing to build on Quins success and recruit the two or three international quality players they need to compete in both Europe and domestically. He has laid a lot of faith at the door of the academy. You could also argue that his succession planning policy has been a touch wayward with Quins far to reliant on the aging Kohn and as soon as he retired the Quins pack lost a good deal of strength. Similar could happen with Evans unless Botica is developed more next season.

I agree with you there Sam, using the academy is great and all but I still think we could have put our selves about a bit more and tried to get one or two more star players, instead we got PDJ and Kennedy. That's probably the biggest issue so far. That and tactical stupidity against the bigger more powerful sides, too often trying to run in our own 22 and throwing the ball about willynilly.

To bring it back to Glos, every coach has their issues, and I guarantee their new coach who ever he is will make little to no difference. If they do well next season it's probably due to ND's recruits, if not it's probably because of the constant changes. Silly stuff.

If Brizzle don't get into the Prem then perhaps Andy Robinson?

So Glaws want Mallett, I know he is highly regarded in the rugby world but has Matt kvesic played Scrum Half before? 

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:Stranger things have happened, HKC.
Vern Cotter agreed to bugger up his reputation with Scotland.

And god bless him for that, Portnoy.

Cockers has been at the Tigers as head coach since 09, as has McCall at Sarries and whilst continuity in coaching is good, if the management don't feel that it's the right guy, then there is no point in persisting. I agree with Sam though - good coaches are only going to want the job if they can bring in their own backroom staff and influence strongly the recruitment of players. Not sure that's what Cherries management will let happen.

Mallett doesn't sound too far fetched, although with the Super Rugby season well underway, I would look to perhaps trying to poach a Dave Rennie or a Mark Hammett.

Moriarty gone from Glaws too - makes sense to allow new DoR to bring in his own backroom team

Dean Ryan?

WalesOnline have just put an article up saying Lyn Jones & Kingsley Jones are 'in the frame'

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Moriarty gone from Glaws too - makes sense to allow new DoR to bring in his own backroom team

I think Moriarty was destined to leave either way. As defence coach you can't ship the amount of tries we did and keep your job. Whoever comes in they must keep Trevor Woodman as the improvement in our scrum under him has been phenomenal!

Scrumpy wrote:So Glaws want Mallett, I know he is highly regarded in the rugby world but has Matt kvesic played Scrum Half before? 

This would allow Laidlaw to play 10...

If I could pick anyone I would go for Paul Gustard. He may of course have a long contract with Sarries.

IronMike wrote:That is a surprise, were gloucester really that bad under him?

With no good new players coming in & a few departing to pastures greener I would say it has gotten worse during his tenure.

Is this his fault? Did he have the money or the freedom to make the changes? I don't know... I would suspect not if he is still having to wheel in Mike (one direction and no passing) Tindell to shore up the midfield.

I'd like Stuart Barnes to display his knowledge, his love of the SW and to put his wisdom into practice.

Where better than Glaws?

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:I'd like Stuart Barnes to display his knowledge, his love of the SW and to put his wisdom into practice.

Where better than Glaws?

That would be amazing. Truly amazing. Sort of an 'anything you can do I can do too' to Dean Ryan.

Can we get Greenwood as backs/defense coach and that annoying Welsh bloke as the forwards coach too?

Then watch as everyone puts cricket scores on them...   

Didn't they say something along the lines of wanting to change the ethos of defence or similar in the statement regarding Moriarty going?

I'd imagine Gustard is at Sarries for a long time yet. You don't let your key coaching staff get poached by teams in the same league. When you consider he is the mastermind behind the Sarries defence and line out...

Tindal will get a job no doubt and then it's a case of promoting Woodman and getting someone to oversee it all with one or two of their own men to come along.

yappysnap wrote:

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:I'd like Stuart Barnes to display his knowledge, his love of the SW and to put his wisdom into practice.

Where better than Glaws?

That would be amazing. Truly amazing. Sort of an 'anything you can do I can do too' to Dean Ryan.

Can we get Greenwood as backs/defense coach and that annoying Welsh bloke as the forwards coach too?

Then watch as everyone puts cricket scores on them...   

You'll have to narrow that down.

HammerofThunor wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

Portnoy's Complaint wrote:I'd like Stuart Barnes to display his knowledge, his love of the SW and to put his wisdom into practice.

Where better than Glaws?

That would be amazing. Truly amazing. Sort of an 'anything you can do I can do too' to Dean Ryan.

Can we get Greenwood as backs/defense coach and that annoying Welsh bloke as the forwards coach too?

Then watch as everyone puts cricket scores on them...   

You'll have to narrow that down.

The one that keeps trying to get me to join the post code lottery!!

Scott Quinnell! Not his best look on the advert, but you wouldn't wanna f*ck him off. Heard he's a hard bloke, even decked Johnno on the 2001 tour, or maybe 97, can't remember which. This came from Jiffy's mouth to a friend, to me...

I would if he tried to get me to buy a lottery ticket.